The battle station was developed as
three separate modifications that
included a fully integrated data link, vertical situational display unit and
central integrated test system. During development it became obvious
that modifying the same aircraft three
times would be detrimental to aircraft
availability and would create numerous
aircraft configurations.
Said william
barnes B-1B systems program manager at
the air force life cycle management
center, thus integrated battle station was born. The modification took thousands of
man-hours and involved 120 maintainers
assigned to the modification line
working in two shift schedules. The program began with the installation
of the center integrated test system, the
display in the cockpit that replaced the
outdated computer monitors that were
used to help troubleshoot issues with
the jet systems. This was followed by the link 16
supporting fully integrated data link
and then the vertical situational
display unit.
Boeing has been the prime ibs contractor
since it bought rockwell international's
aircraft business. Defense daily reported that the first
two B-1Bs with boeing installed ibs were
test planes delivered in 2012, while the
first of the remaining 60 B-1Bs were
delivered to dyess air force base, texas
in january 2014 with ibs installed by
tinker afb okla, technicians.
Under the original requirements of the
program it was estimated it would take
about 218 days to complete each bomber, but tinker was able to set an internal
goal of about 170 days and the fastest
turnaround for a single aircraft was
just 154 days. The onset of the novel coronavirus
pandemic earlier this year had little
effect on the timeline of the
modification.
For the IBS workforce covid restrictions
were very limited said Rodney Shepard
director of the 567th aircraft
maintenance squadron. At the time of the outbreak the IBS modification line only had one aircraft
in dock at the maintenance repair
overhaul technology center, with three
aircraft already transitioned to post
dock flight operations. The air force has said that the
completed modification will enhance B-1B flight operations and give the crews
more flexibility in performing their
various missions.
The program was able to be accomplished
quickly due to the commonality which
included designing and installing
hardware, including displays that worked
for all three modifications and by
executing the software upgrades for all
three components as one single package. The IBS development phase which included
flight testing and modifications of the
two test aircraft, cost 380 million
dollars while the IBS production phase
of the upgrade cost 894 million dollars
bringing the total cost to 1.27 billion
dollars.
These upgrades have come even as the U.S Air Force has suggested it would retire
the B-1B lancer beginning in 2025 as the B-21 raider comes into service. The last B-1B could leave service around
2036. Critics of that move have argued that
the strategic bombers have more than
proven their worth in recent years and
the lancer remains a fundamental part of
the u.s air force's combat air.
Power earlier this year two B-1B lancers
took part in a 24-hour drill flying from
anderson air force base, Guam to conduct
training in Alaska and Japan. The exercise highlighted the bomber's
ability to hold any target at risk
worldwide. For now the B-1B remains the backbone of
the u.s air force's bomber fleet. the aircraft which can top 900 miles per
hour has the largest payload for a
bomber and can carry up to 75,000 pounds
of guided and unguided weapons.
